VADP

The death penalty: the punishment we reserve for the worst criminal offenders. Last week, law enforcement officials said it was on the table for four men charged in the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina. It's a signal that the crimes were truly reprehensible. Much of what we think we know about American capital punishment comes from the longstanding debate that surrounds the institution. But in making their opposing claims, death-penalty proponents and their abolitionist adversaries perpetrate myths and half-truths that distort the facts. The United States' death penalty is not what its supporters -- or its opponents -- would have us believe.

Read More >>